Electrical connectors, such as surge protectors, can be used to couple electrical products to power sources. Many electrical connectors, however, are undesirable in some circumstances, including travel applications, when it comes to providing flexibility and functionality for coupling electrical products to power sources. Also, most electrical connectors designed for travel applications are ungrounded, and thus are incompatible for electrical products with polarized electrical prongs, or plugs incorporating a ground prong. Other electrical connectors are too unwieldy for travel applications because they comprise bulky power cords or are fixed in one orientation defined by the alignment of their power prongs relative to prong sockets on the power source. This configuration in turn forces electrical products and/or their power plugs to couple to the electrical connector at one specific orientation, which may not be suitable for the particular electric product, or the particular location where the power source is situated. In addition, most electrical connectors are limited to couple with only one type of power source outlet, and thus cannot couple to power sources in countries with different electrical standards and/or different power source outlets.
Accordingly, a need exists for a compact electrical connector that addresses these problems by providing more flexibility for coupling to different power sources, and more alignment options for coupling electrical products.
For simplicity and clarity of illustration, the drawing figures illustrate the general manner of construction, and descriptions and details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention. Additionally, elements in the drawing figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of examples of embodiments. The same reference numerals in different figures denote the same elements.
The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” and “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
The terms “left,” “right,” “front,” “back,” “top,” “bottom,” “over,” “under,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing permanent relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. The term “coupled,” as used herein, is defined as directly or indirectly connected in an electrical, physically, mechanical, or other manner. The term “ring,” as used herein, includes items with a general annular, elliptical, polygonal, circular, and/or oval shape.